Aerospace Glossary Letter S

SAE – Abbreviation for Society of Automotive Engineers.
Self Extinguishing – The characteristic of a material whose flame is extinguished after the igniting flame is removed.
Semiconductor – A material that has a resistance characteristic between that of insulators and conductors.
Semi-Rigid PVC – A hard semi-flexible polyvinylchloride compound with low plasticizer content.
Separator – A layer of insulating material such as textile, paper, polyester, etc. Used to improve stripping qualities, flexibility, mechanical or electrical protection to the components.
Serve – A filament or group of filaments such as fibers or wires, wound around a central core.
Sheath – The outer covering or jacket of a multiconductor cable.
Shield – In cables, a metallic layer placed around a conductor or group of conductors to prevent electrostatic interference between the enclosed wires and external fields.
Shield Coverage – The physical area of a cable that is actually covered by the shielding material and is expressed in percent.
Shield Effectiveness – The relative ability of a shield to screen out undesirable signals.
Shrinkage Ratio – The ratio between the expanded diameter and recovered diameter of shrinkable products.
Shrink Temperature – That temperature which effects complete recovery of a shrinkable product from the expanded state.
Shrink Tubing – Tubing which has been extruded, cross-linked and non cross-linked, and mechanically expanded which when reheated will return to its original diameter.
Signal – A current used to convey information, either digital, analog, audio or video.
Signal Cable – A cable designed to carry current of usually less than one ampere per conductor.
Simplex – Mode of data transmission in one direction only. Usually on a two-wire facility.
Sintering – Fusion of a spirally applied tape wrap jacket by the use of high heat to a homogeneous continuum. Usually employed for fluorocarbon, non-extrudable materials.
Skin Effect – The phenomenon in which the depth of penetration of electric currents into a conductor decreases as the frequency increases.
Sleeving – A braided, extruded or woven tube.
Soldering Sleeves – Shrinkable tubing with a solder preform used for highest reliability soldering connections or shield grounding.
Solid Conductor – A conductor consisting of a single wire.